The rumblings in the ground are pointing to an imminent Kindle 2.0, a successor to Amazon's loved but flawed e-book reader. The current-model Kindle has effectively dropped in price to just $260 (although you'll to sign up for an Amazon Visa card to get the discount), and at over a year old, it is getting pretty old in gadget time. But what should Amazon do to make it better? Cheaper? Check. Smaller? Hell yes. But we have a few other suggestions. Here are five things that Jeff Bezos should include if he wants the Kindle 2.0 to be the best e-book reader on the planet.
Sex Appeal: The current Kindle is ugly. Almost nobody will argue with that. In fact, the only way to make it uglier would be to make it in false-limb-pink. But fixing this problem is easy: just copy somebody else. A sleek, black slab made from aluminum and glass would do the trick just nicely. Add a couple of buttons to turn the pages and you're done. And the keyboard? That's next.
BusinessWeek: Here Comes Kindle 2.0.